Featuring fully rendered 3D models and a new grappling system, WWF War Zone became a must-have for both gamers and wrestling fans.
PS1 | Nintendo 64 | GameBoy Colour
WWF War Zone is a game that shouldn't be ignored, it introduced some fantastic gameplay mechanics, which at their core, can still be seen in modern wrestling games.
The year is 1998 and so far we've had an onslaught of wrestling-based games, most featuring digitized sprites, which is fine and most of these games were and still are fun to play, however it wasn't until WWF War Zone hit shelves on PlayStation and Nintendo 64 where the genre really started to kick off into something quite incredible.
Set during the 'Attitude Era', you'll be given the opportunity to play as some very iconic and memorable wrestlers such as The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Mankind, The Undertaker, just to name a few. Each comes with a recognisable trademark move, for example Kane is able to perform the 'Chokeslam', Bret Hart can attempt to make his opponents tap out using the 'Sharpshooter', and so forth.
There are numerous modes to choose from including tag team, cage match, or weapons match (hardcore), but its advised to just jump into the challenge mode, which features all of the mentioned besides tag team - the challenge mode option is essentially a journey to reach the top in the wrestling world, this is done by starting at the bottom brawling it out in easily won fights right up to competing for the heavyweight championship itself.
During a fight, each wrestler has a stamina bar, which when fully depleted, will leave the opposing wrestler stunned for a short period of time - this is the best time to try and get the win through a good old fashioned pin count to three, however it will typically take more than a few attempts as the stamina bar will eventually fill back up. The more you fight, the colour of the stamina bar will alter to indicate how much damage has been dealt, for example if you've been constantly slamming your opponent, their stamina will turn to a red colour, which when happens, is the best time to try and win the fight.
Each wrestler has a set of moves - some more difficult to pull off than others, but its the grapple system that really made this game stand out all those years ago, this new gameplay mechanic allowed you to experiment with your move set, all whilst still being able to perform quick punches and kicks in between, and this actually made you analyse certain situations in order to pull off the best combos so to speak, giving the game a level of depth no wrestling game had previously.
With that said, there are some glitches that occur once in a while such as falling through parts of the arena or the commentary being completed wrong - this happened when The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels were facing off, in which the commentator thought Shawn Michaels was Triple H. This isn't a massive deal, but is a little strange to say the least.
Weapons matches are by far the most enjoyable, especially when someone from the crowd actually manages to throw a TV into the ring (where did they even get it from?) - whilst this is fun, you can abuse the weapons by spamming your opponent over the head with a chair or a wooden blank, which drains their stamina at a rapid pace. The cage match is also fun, instead of pinning or making your opponent tap out, you have to climb over the cage to the floor below in order to win - at times, when climbing, the opponent will shake the cage to drop you off, which can be hilarious to watch and annoying as it will deal quite a large amount of damage.
Overall, a fantastic game complete with a large roster of old fan-favourites, which is sure to crank up the nostalgia level if you were ever intro wrestling all those years ago, and even if not there's enough here to keep you entertained for a good amount of time. retroreview
7/10
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